Mellow's campaign spent lots on lawyers last year

In a year a federal corruption investigation of him heated up, former state Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow's chief campaign committee spent almost $740,000 on lawyers for unspecific reasons, despite a state law that says campaign money must be spent on influencing the outcome of elections.

Experts on the state Campaign Finance Reporting Law said they have a difficult time conceiving how so much spending on lawyers could be election-related, but the state agency that oversees campaign finances said it would not investigate unless a citizen files a formal complaint.

"Well, spending it on legal fees when you're out of office certainly begs the question what election are you trying to influence. None that I can see," said attorney Lawrence M. Otter, who often handles election law cases. "It's certainly not within the spirit of the rather loose Pennsylvania campaign finance laws, to say the least."

Efforts to reach Mr. Mellow were unsuccessful.

The legal spending happened in a year in which Mr. Mellow was not a candidate and just months after he ended 40 years of representing Lackawanna County in the state Senate, the last two decades as Democratic leader.

Friends of Bob Mellow started 2011 with $836,598.18, raised $10,349.94, all of it bank interest, spent $791,095.57 and ended the year with $55,752.55, according to the campaign finance report for the year. Based on those figures, the year-end balance appears to be off by $100.

None of its money was contributed to other candidates.

Under the Campaign Finance Reporting Law, campaign expenditures are defined as "the payment, distribution, loan or advancement of money or any valuable thing by a candidate, political committee or other person for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election."

Exactly $700,000 was paid April 28 to Scranton attorney Sal Cognetti Jr. as a "legal retainer," according to the 2011 campaign finance report for Friends of Bob Mellow. The report did not further specify the purpose of the "legal retainer" or explain how the money was related to an election.

Just after federal agents searched Mr. Mellow's Peckville Senate office and Archbald home in June 2010, Mr. Cognetti went to federal court on his behalf to demand the unsealing of documents used in obtaining the search warrant that federal agents based their search on.

Prosecutors argued revealing the documents would reveal the investigation's direction and obstruct the investigation.

A federal judge denied Mr. Cognetti's request in August 2010. In January 2011, three months before he was paid the huge retainer, Mr. Cognetti asked a federal appeals court to overturn the lower court judge's ruling. The appeals court rejected the appeal.

In its rejection ruling, the appeals court said Mr. Mellow "is being investigated for federal-program theft, extortion, fraud and money laundering." Mr. Cognetti said the search warrant indicated investigators were looking at "political campaign work."

Efforts to reach Mr. Cognetti were unsuccessful.

Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said he thinks Mr. Mellow would have to demonstrate how the legal fees were used to help candidates.

"I doubt that he could use the (money) for his personal legal fees," Mr. Kauffman said.

None of the payments to lawyers specify the reasons for the legal fees in great detail.

The committee paid another $25,000 as a "legal retainer" to attorney Christopher D. Warren, a Philadelphia lawyer who specializes in extortion, white collar and political corruption cases. Another $13,114.51 was paid for "legal services rendered" to Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads LLP, a Philadelphia law firm that includes well-known Democratic election lawyer, Gregory M. Harvey.

The legal fees total $738,114.51.

Mr. Harvey declined to comment on what legal services he or the other lawyers offered. But speaking generally, he said being paid a retainer does not mean a lawyer has actually performed any work for a client. Lawyers hold retainers in escrow accounts and draw payments from them once legal work is performed, he said. He confirmed he was paid for legal work he performed.

Mr. Harvey has years of experience in election and campaign finance law and Mr. Mellow has called on him for advice on election matters before, but it is unknown if he gave advice on the use of campaign money for legal expenses.

The first two of three payments to Mr. Harvey's firm were made on Feb. 8 and March 26, prior to the payment to Mr. Cognetti. The last payment to Mr. Harvey's firm was May 13. The payment to Mr. Warren was May 23.

Mr. Otter said he could see someone who is an actual candidate spending campaign money on fending off legal challenges to his or her nominating petitions, for example.

"If you were running and your petitions got challenged, I mean I could do it for considerably less than $750,000," he said. "Lawyers fees are certainly an acceptable expense for a whole variety of reasons - review your filings, review your finance reports, if you're involved in any type of campaign-related litigation like challenging your (opponents') petitions or defending your own petitions."

Mr. Otter said the Department of State should investigate. The department's Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation oversees elections and campaign finances, but spokesman Ronald Ruman said its stated policy remains not to investigate potential wrongdoing until it receives a formal complaint.

"We really don't look at that at the time of filing," he said.

The bureau mostly acts a repository for campaign finance documents and only investigates complaints, he said.

"Our charge is not to look at any type of improper spending," he said. All investigations and their outcomes are confidential anyway, he said.

Any suspected wrongdoing would be referred to the state Attorney General's Office.

"As a policy, the Office of Attorney General does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations, so I cannot comment," spokesman Nils Frederiksen said.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.

Think you have the cutest pet in NEPA? Share a photo of your furry companion and you could win prizes from our sponsors! Deadline to submit an entry is March 19, and voting will take place from March 20-March 31.